Park Hyatt Washington Review (Guest post)

There’s diving into the miles and points community head-first, and then there’s my buddy Mark. Guy went straight up loco and has found unique mileage and cash-back opportunities that few else can. More importantly he’s a good friend and has a love for travel that is infectious and keeps our group of friends motivated and enthusiastic about traveling (and, in my case, blogging about traveling).

Mark and his girlfriend recently took a trip to Washington DC (taking aadvantage of a cheap fare from American) and decided to pay a visit to the luxurious Park Hyatt Washington DC. I’ve previously stayed in the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome and the Park Hyatt Dubai and will happily admit they’re incredibly nice. I was excited to see how the Park Hyatt in DC would compare (side note: I’ll also soon be visiting another Park Hyatt in Colorado and will have a review up soon!). I’ll let Mark take over from here:

On my previous trips to DC, I had stayed at the Grand Hyatt Washington, which was a fine hotel, but I had always wanted to stay at the Park. Previously rates at the Grand had hovered around $150 while the Park commanded $300 or more, which was hard to justify, especially when it was coming out of my own pocket.

When I booked this trip back in July, I was ecstatic to find a My Elite Rate of $199 for a Park Deluxe King. If you’re familiar with this hotel, you’ll know that’s a very good rate, but wait, it gets better! I routinely check rates for upcoming trips and stumbled across a deal I couldn’t believe.

$199 a night for a Park Executive Suite, listed on the AA.com hotel portal.

BRG Screen Shot

Somehow the same rate for a Premier Park Deluxe King room got loaded for the suite. At this point you’re probably thinking that I jumped on this immediately. You’d be wrong. Knowing the Hyatt loyalty program like the back of my hand, I knew that if I found a better rate on a third party website than what was listed on Hyatt.com, they’d match it and take 20% off. I promptly submitted a Best Rate Guarantee request to Hyatt with a screenshot of the lower rate, a short while later I received an email confirmation booking me into a Park Executive Suite for a three night stay for $159 a night.

We arrived at the hotel on a Thursday night and were greeted by the front desk clerk who explained that as a Diamond member we could have our complimentary breakfast in the restaurant (The Blue Duck Tavern) or room service. She asked if it was just the two of us, I mentioned we would have friends visiting, and she said she would gladly change our reservation to four guests for no extra charge. I was quite shocked by this, but happily accepted as I know how expensive breakfast can be at these places. $30-$40 a person is not difficult at all.

The room itself was fantastic, one of the nicer suites I have stayed in and much nicer than the suite at the GH Washington. The ridiculously sized couch was close to 15 feet long and could easily fit two people end to end. The bathroom was incredible, bested only by the Splash Suite at the Andaz 5th Avenue in New York.

It was 11pm at night and we hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so we decided to grab a bite at the lounge. It was good, but not $22 for a basic hamburger good.

The first morning we took full advantage of my Diamond status and opted for room, with tax and tip it came to around $90 for the two of us. The second and third mornings our friends joined us and we ate at the Blue Duck Tavern. Over the course of the weekend I estimate we had $350 in breakfast charges (including taxes and tips), all of which were removed from the final bill.

Breakfast!

The only complaint from the entire weekend was the fire alarm going off twice on Saturday. The first time was around 6:30 pm when we were about to start getting ready to go out, they had us walk across the street to the Fairmont for about half an hour, until it was determined there was no fire. We were walking back to the hotel around 12:30 am and were surprised to see the fire truck back again, and everybody standing outside again, many in robes at this point. Apparently there was a fire on the roof caused by a grease build up in the exhaust fan from the kitchen. At the rate I was paying, I really wasn’t too concerned and we weren’t disrupted for too long. If I’d been paying the full rack price, I may have been a little upset.

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend and given the opportunity I would not hesitate to stay here again!

Thanks Mark! See below for the rest of the pictures of the Park Executive Suite.

This is one of my favorite Hyatt properties – and that is an amazing rate! The Blue Duck is great and I frequently go there for brunch or dinner even when not staying at the hotel. One of my other favorite features here is their afternoon tea service – it’s one of my favorites in the US. Very modern and non-stuffy, but also elegant and delicious!